In this paper, a new masonry construction is proposed based on honey beehive cell internal geometry as a unique structure and hydrostatic pressure principle. The considered experimental program involved suggestion, manufacturing, testing and analysis of masonry specimens of honey beehive units’ arrangement as well as corresponding specimens of custom arrangement, two classes of cementations bonding mortars are used. Plan strain concept and Saint Venant’s principle are adopted to model and assign proper boundary conditions of testing specimens. The significant improvement of masonry construction bearing capacity is confirmed by the obtained results and could be related to the presence of internal or self-confining pressure, which is produced due to the specific internal geometry of proposed honey beehive units’ arrangement of hexagonal construction units. The obtained results show that, the masonry specimens of proposed honey beehive arrangement Mode II exhibited higher bearing capacity in term of ultimate and service loads besides stiffness improvement in comparison with the customary arrangement Mode I.

This work aims to investigate the behavior of rectangular-section of reinforced concrete beams subjected to torsion by using the finite element method. An analytical study is presented in the current work on thirty-four beam specimens divided into two series. Compressive strength of concrete is the main parameter for first series which contains sixteen specimens (high strength concrete HSC and normal strength concrete NSC), the spacing of the stirrups is also investigated in this series. Second series, includes eighteen beams investigated for the effect of some parameter on the torsional capacity. These parameters are amount of longitudinal and transverse reinforcement, yield strength of longitudinal and transverse steel, reinforcement stresses, and crack patterns of HSC and NSC beams. The results showed that for RC beams, the transverse reinforcement is more effective in resisting the applied torque, it is preferable to use a higher ratio of transverse reinforcement for the NSC and HSC beams, where the increase in ultimate torque was about 94% for an increase in the ratio from 6% to 16%, the effect of yield strength of steel is about 4.1% by changing the yield strength by 13.6% from 440 MPa to 500 MPa. The increasing of transverse reinforcement spacing significantly improves and increases the ultimate twisting angle. The mode of failure for the RC beams is more affected by the reinforcement ratio and the typical mode of failure for rectangular section beams is diagonal tension failure for both concrete grades.

Studying and evaluating the parking is an important step in keeping up with the rapid development of parking. The present study aims to evaluate the parking capacity at one of the commercial streets in Amara city (Dijlah Street). The present study based on data that collected using special survey papers related to the parking. The collected data applied field work in order to observe and draw the actual layout for each park. Each park was planned to four cases of vehicle stall layout (90°, 60°, 45° and 30°) according to the global standards in order to obtain the designed capacity. The evaluation was implemented by comparing the actual parking situation and the new planning for each park. The current study indicates that all parking located at Dijlah Street (16 parks) are planned with a random approach for vehicles stalling. The general configuration of those parking is not plan with a constant system. From management point of view, the study presented the true guide line for parking planning, therefore; the competent authorities could be taken advantage of the study.

This research investigates the behavior of RC beam column joints reinforced with steel sections. The study deals with the strengthening of RC joints by different steel sections. The investigation included a theoretical analysis through a performing of simulation of beam-column joints laced with steel sections by using FEA. Implementation of the parametric study included reinforcing the concrete beam with steel sections in many configurations. Shapes and length were the most variables in this study, and many shapes were used, such as I-section, box section, and plates, beside the concrete compressive strength variable. The most recent study revealed the possibility of the method to enhance the efficiency of the joint in resisting the loads while the offering many additional features such as higher ductility, stiffness, and energy absorption. The results showed that strengthening by the steel section enhanced the flexural strength of the joint, but these enhancements were to a certain limit due to the concrete strength limitation. The ultimate strength enhancement was 49%, which is considered a good index for the joint efficiency. The use of compressive strength in small amounts led to the enhancements being limited due to the weakness of the concrete. Strengthening the flexural side of the beam by adding a steel section requires stronger concrete to provide more contribution for the steel section to resist more flexural loads. The increase in the compressive strength of the concrete made the improvements reach their peaks. Strengthening by I-shaped and box steel sections showed that the enhancement due to the existence of the I section was greater than that of the box one. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-03-015 Full Text: PDF